Victory // Wanderer

Name: Victoire Chevalier // Victory
Age: 48
Gender: Female
District/Area: Wanderer
Appearance:

Victory looks not a day over thirty, which is a good two decades younger than she is. The Capitol's surgeons are skilled, though, and they kept her in mint condition. She has the sort of skin that glows on a summer's day, that is lit by its own inner bronze (implanted, of course). Her back is a tangle of tattoos, the largest of which is a golden snake, coined around a black dagger. The tattoos extend over her shoulders, breast and upper arms, although most of the work is done in a glitter inking, making the patterns difficult to discern. This has been a relief in recent months, as the tattoos are mostly easy to hide, and even easier for her to ignore.

Her eyes are perhaps her most defining feature. They are large, and pop out of her face. Bug-eyes, she was called as a little girl, and yet there is beauty in this flaw. They are a deep blue, more navy than most, and faceted like the sapphires she used to carry to the Capitol. These eyes are expressive, mostly too much so. Victory cannot hide her innerworkings, and in the past hasn't really wanted to. You'll know if she's sad or happy, certainly, but you'll probably also be able to guess when she's lying to you, even if you just met her.

Her nose in a gentle slope, coming to a blunt point. Her smile is brilliant white, again thanks to the Capitol, with thin, undefined lips. Round cheekbones and elfin ears complete the look. Like her face, her body has undergone several surgeries. She has opted to keep the curves of childbirth around her hips and breasts, but otherwise her body is virtually free of fat. Flat tummy, toned thighs, lean arms. All of these things are thanks to surgery, because at close to fifty, most of them would have fallen by now.

When she worked in the Capitol she wore the latest fashions, flaunted her wealth and stature. Now, as a wanderer, Victory wears the few items she grabbed, mostly drab maternity clothes, things that had some earth tones in them, although they are frequently pinstripped with gold or dotted with hot pink. It comes out to a very mismatched look, but then, what experience did Victory have with the wilderness prior to running away?

For all her jewels, she took only one with her - a small bracelet, made for a child. Pure gold and simple links, Autumn had loved it but chosen something else for her token. Victory had wrapped it around her wrist the day she left District One, and it has not left her flesh since.

Personality:

Victory no longer knows exactly who she is. This is typical of a mid-life crisis, although hers was induced by the death of her daughter in the Games. She is aimless, wantless, wandering. This is not the Victory who was raised in District One, who sold precious gem commissions in the Capitol. No, this is an old woman, weakened by grief and consumed by loneliness.

There used to be a fire to Victory, a passion that reared its ugly head too often. She has no control over her temper (although now it is mere ashes after a wildfire). She feels each moment acutely, living in a world painted with emotion. Before, she might have found pure joy in the toothless smile of her daughter, rage at the politics of some Capitolites, sadness at having to be away from her home so often for her job. All of those things are gone. She has flickerings of feelings, the echoes of true emotions, but none of them quite rise to the surface.

She is not without determination, or the will to live, she just hasn't sorted everything out yet. To think about Autumn all day and all night would be to succumb to a slow death by living in the past. So she sets aside time each morning to dedicate herself to happier memories. And then, she moves on. She picks through the wild plants, drinks from the stream, builds her nightly shelter. It is a simple life, one she was not raised to, but one that suits her nevertheless.

But the loneliness that holds fast to her heart - that is what will compel Victory to new life. Someday she will tire of the repetitive motions, to remember the good parts of being a part of a society. She has plenty to offer, still. Information about the Capitol, a quick wit and a pretty smile. There are certainly still places in the world for Victory. She just has to find them.

History:

I won't bore you with the beginnings of Victoire's life, because although they are extraordinary for the majority of Panem, for most of her childhood she wasn't anything special in District One. She was born to a nuclear family, the second child after her brother Vincent. The Chevaliers made their livelihood from mining, like most everyone else. Her mother sorted what the miners dug out, and her father went deep into the recesses of the earth. He was injured once when she was a toddler, although Victoire doesn't remember it well. He recovered within a matter of months, and had the good fortune to retire a career man. Her mother still works to help bring in enough food for the family, but it isn't strictly necessary. District One does well enough by its citizens.

Victoire's life began to slowly change as she matured. As a child her wide eyes and gangly limbs had earned her ruthless taunts. Once she began to soften these features with curves, however, it became clear there was more to her. She wasn't sent into the mines, and her family didn't have the resources or connections to train her for the Games. Instead, she focused on her grooming and when it came time to find a job, she went to work for one of the premiere precious stone dealers. Her pretty face and coy purr weren't noticed immediately. At sixteen, she still had the body of a tween boy.

That all changed in nine months' time. Victoire has never revealed the identity of her paramour, but it's safe to say it was a short-lived passion. Shortly after her seventeenth birthday, she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Autumn for the season of her birth. Along with this scandal came the curves, and in no time at all Victoire found herself in front of the press and cameras, working for the jeweler. She often left Autumn with her parents when she traveled to the Capitol to act as the young face of the company. Of course, she always traveled in style, demonstrating some of their most precious wares.

By the time Autumn entered school, Victoire had made a happy life for them. She earned quite a good salary, and found herself content to spend her free time tickling her daughter and picking up toys. It was sometimes hard to be away from Autumn so often, but Victoire reaped the benefits of traveling between the Capitol and District One. She indulged in delicacies, met some of the most powerful citizens, and even went under the knife to keep up her youthful appearance. She spent months, if not years, of her life in the Capitol and was privvy to some high-power company. Naturally Victoire assumed this was a permanent position, that she was valued by the Capitol and it's government.

As it turns out, though, it just took Victoire longer than most to realize that everyone is expendable. No matter how much she dyed her hair, or how many glittery tattoos she adorned, she was still a citizen of the districts. When it came time for Autumn to enter the Reaping, she had only one tessera. Just one, but it was enough. Victoire was too hysterical to even say goodbye to her daughter, and by the time the Bloodbath claimed her life, too catatonic to realize what was happening. It was months before she was able to function at all, and even then, the Victoire who had known and loved her child was gone.

She began to remember things said at those elite Capitol parties. Things about people in the woods, disruptions, rebels. These whispers began to eat away at her heart. One night, of no particular consequence, she packed a bag of clothes, food, and the meager medical supplies she had at her disposal. And she ran. Having been in and out of the district frequently, she knew the best way around the Peacekeepers. She kept running, and hiding, and doing whatever it took to survive. Victoire was used to not eating, and already had become accustomed to the prevasive loneliness.

In time she hopes to find a new life, one free of the Capitol's entanglements and their Games. She has come across a few others in the wilderness beyond Panem, and called herself Victory, because she escaped the Capitol's clutches. Mostly, though, she wanders by herself. Victory takes life day to day, starting each morning with a memory of her eternal Autumn.

Codeword: Odair
Comments/Other:

All done <3